1. Technical Field
The invention relates to voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) telephony call sessions. In particular, the invention relates to call session configuration in a VoIP telephony system based on parameters and settings stored in a database. The application is also related to U.S. patent application filed on Dec. 27, 2005, entitled “System for Customized Messaging Presentation Based on Called-Party Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol Settings,” and having Ser. No. 11/318,673, and U.S. Patent Application filed on Dec. 27, 2005, entitled “System for Predefined Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol Call Parameters” and having Ser. No. 11/318,696, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
2. Related Art
Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony systems provide traditional phone calling using packet technology like the Internet. Because this technology is based on software and open standards, much more flexibility is achievable compared to conventional telephone technology. VoIP makes easy some things that are difficult with traditional phone networks: incoming phone calls can be automatically routed to a VoIP phone, irrespective of the connection to the network. A user may carry a VoIP phone on a trip, and connect anywhere to the Internet to receive incoming calls. Call center agents using VoIP phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast Internet connection. In addition, VoIP phones can integrate with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.
Most voice mail systems currently present the same experience to callers, regardless of who they are or the circumstances of the called party. For some messaging systems customization is achieved by playing different greetings to callers based on the time of day, the day of week, and/or busy/not busy line status. Other options can be manually turned on or off, such as by using an extended absence greeting or enabling special features like transfer-to-operator or paging services.
Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony systems provide traditional phone calling using packet technology like the Internet. Because this technology is based on software and open standards, much more flexibility is achievable. Voice over IP (VoIP) technology differs from older telephony technology in that it uses a data protocol over data networks. As such, there is greater flexibility and control over the calling task than the older circuit-switched technology. This facilitates interaction with other user interaction points. One of the functions that call processing can interact with is an address book. An address book stores names, phone numbers, addresses, etc. of a user's contacts. This integration is currently used to play different ring tones, offer multiple options for reply/redial, speed dialing, and alternate call forwarding options.
For example, a user can click a phone number on a web site and their IP phone calls that number. But, in this example—or the more traditional scenario of dialing a phone number on the phone's keypad—once the phone number has been entered, the call is placed. It would be useful if the caller could be prompted before the call completes to inform them of special situations or to ask them about how they would like to treat the call.